Venice, Florida, November 27, 2014 – Every year, The Salvation Army (Venice) provides hundreds of Thanksgiving Day meals for less fortunate families and individuals in our community. This year, VCO members help make The Salvation Army’s luncheon just a little more festive.

Laurie Vodnoy-Wright, our beloved conductor & coach, helped us put together a play list of almost 25 traditional holiday selections including; “Jolly Old St. Nicholas”, the “Dreidl Song”, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Jingle Bells”, to name just a few.

With diners enjoying turkey dinner and all the trimmings, VCO members got everyone in the holiday spirit!

Lt. Andrea Hoover of The Salvation Army (Venice), sent us a note of thanks for “taking time away from our families on Thanksgiving to share our gift of music with those in need and making this year’s lunch a very special one.”

What a wonderful way to start the holidays!

Venice, Florida, September 20, 2014 – A few of us stretching during a well deserved break!

Venice, Florida, June 15, 2014 — The Venice Community Orchestra, under the musical direction of Professor Todd Craven, concluded its 2013-2014 season with a master class conducted by internationally renowned violinist Andrea Segar.

In residence at the State College of Florida Venice Campus, the VCO enjoyed a three-semester season of performance instruction, coaching and ensemble training by Professor Craven, formerly principal trumpet of the Sarasota Orchestra. The class benefitted greatly from his depth of orchestral and chamber music experience, as both a musician and conductor. “He is a gifted teacher who gave us the freedom and knowledge to understand what we needed to do in a most enjoyable way,” said VCO cellist and founder John Mabardi, who also expressed his thanks to SCF for making such a “rich experience available to amateur players in the Venice area.”

Professor Craven will be departing this summer to pursue advanced study in conducting at the University of Michigan.

Laurie Vodnoy-Wright, accomplished and renowned professional violinist and teacher, will lead and coach the orchestra for the 2014-2015 season at the Venice Campus of SCF. Maestra Vodnoy-Wright, a member of the SCF Music Faculty, has performed with the Florida Orchestra, Sarasota Opera, and Venice Symphony, among many other ensembles. She is actively engaged in music education and enjoys coaching players of all ages and playing levels who enjoy making music together. Her two-hour performance classes will take place on Saturdays from 9 am to 11 am beginning on Sept 13, 2014. They are open without audition to string players of all levels who can read music. Registration is required through the SCF Corporate and Community Development Dept. Tuition is $75 for the fall 13-week semester.

To register or to get more information, visit www.VeniceCommunityOrchestra.com or call Roresu Chandler, Director of Continuing & Community Education, at 941-752-5290, or visit scf.augusoft.net/CCD.

Press contact: John Mabardi at VCOinformation@comcast.net.

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The State College of Florida and The Venice Community Orchestra OFFER A

“Community String Ensemble PROGRAM”

If you’d like to play a string instrument (Violin, viola, cello or bass) with a group of people of all ages in a very friendly environment, consider joining this joint program offered at the SCF Venice Campus as part of SCF Corporate and Community Development (CCD) courses.

The program consists of two terms (fall and spring) of 13 sessions each. It is open to anyone who can read music and enjoys playing classical symphonic and traditional repertoire. It is a multigenerational program. The sessions are tailored to players who learned how to play during their early school days then stopped, and later in life decided to get back into music, as well as to advancing beginners, SCF students, amateurs and retired professional musicians wanting to remain musically active. You are not required to audition to be part of this program.

Two sessions of 13 classes each

• 13 Saturdays, Sept 21 – Dec 14, including 1 Performance.
• 13 Saturdays, Jan 4 – Mar 29, including 1 Performance.

Time: 10 am to 12 pm

Location: SCF Venice campus at 8000 S. Tamiami Trail, Venice, FL 34293.

Instructor: Todd Craven, Adjunct Music Professor at SCF Music Department

Fee/term of 13 sessions: $85

• Snowbirds are welcome to join any time before mid session on a prorated fee.
• Participants will need to bring their own musical instrument and stand.
• Music will be handed out during the first session.

Registration

Sign up through the SCF Corporate and Community Development Office (CCD) at https://scf.augusoft.net or in person at any of the campuses.

Information on the VCO can be obtained by emailing VCOinformation@comcast.net and/or visiting www.VeniceCommunityOrchestra.com.

At the Town Center Mall in Pt Charlotte (1441 Tamiami Trail at intersection of Rt 776) next to the entrance of Ally Gator’s restaurant at 1 pm, Saturday, March 30.

We will bring our instrument ready to go, outside of its case along with the music for Dona Nobis Pacem. No stands are needed, as they will be set up ahead of time. We will wear plain clothes, no uniform.

Our coach’s beginning string students will be playing DNP on open strings. The cellos will drift in and join them for the first 4 measures. Then the violas will drift in and play their part first 4 measures. Then the 3rd violin, then the 2nd and finally the 1st violins, so depending on one’s part we may play the first 4 measures up to 5 times. After all instruments have played the first 4 measures, the chorus comes in for 8 measures then we all finish the song, get up and leave.

We will meet at 1 and start playing at 1:30, all done by 2.

PRESS RELEASE

The Venice Community Orchestra has joined with the Island Village Montessori School to enhance the K-9^th grade charter school’s new string instrument instruction initiative. Under the arrangement between the orchestra and the school, the school will provide weekly rehearsal space at its North Venice campus, and provide opportunities for beginning music students to sit in and play along with them. The artistic director and conductor of the orchestra, Angela Navarro, will also collaborate with the school’s music director, Peter Simms, to plan programs and concerts that will entertain and educate the entire student body while providing the valuable experience to the string students to play side-by-side with seasoned performers.

At the formal kick-off to the joint program, the Venice Community Orchestra recently performed a program of classical works and a sing-along of holiday favorites for 200 of the school’s pupils and faculty. During the concert’s intermission, two orchestra players, violinist Martin Himmelfarb and flutist Jeanette Himmelfarb, donated a violin outfit formerly used by their son David, when he was a beginning player, to the school’s string training program. According to school executive director Kym Elder, who also plays cello in the orchestra, the string program, though only underway for a few weeks, has already attracted 18 violin students, three cello students and six guitar students, not counting the children who are taking private lessons. The demand has become so strong that the school has retained well-known Venice area performer and string teacher Karen Tuttle to instruct the new string students.

The Venice Community Orchestra was organized in 2011, by founder John Mabardi, a cello student, to provide a place for players of all ages and levels, from retired professionals to beginning amateurs, to come together to have fun making music. Today the orchestra is composed of 20 musicians who rehearse weekly at the IVMS. During its brief existence, one of its high-school age violinists was hired by the Venice Symphony Orchestra and an 8-year-old cellist was recruited by the Sarasota Youth Symphony. “There are no auditions required to join us, just the desire to enjoy making music together,” the retired corporate executive noted. “Our friendship with the Island Village Montessori School will be a wonderful experience for our players and the kids, both.”

Founded in 1976 and established as a Sarasota County charter school, the Island Montessori School provides individualized education for students from pre-K through 9^th grade. In addition to its core curriculum in language, humanities, math and science, the school offers programs in art, music and athletics.

Kym Elder, IVMS Executive Director introduces the VCO to the audience

The children are full of enthusiasm in anticipation of the concert

Following a most recent performance by the VCO to kick off the joint program between the VCO and IVMS, Kim Elder accepts on behalf of the school, Martin and Jeanette Himmelfarb’s donation of the ¾ size violin that belonged to their son when he was 6 years old.

From left to right, John Mabardi, Founder of the VCO; Angela Navarro, Artistic Director and Conductor of the VCO; Peter Simms, Head of the music program at IVMS, Kym Elder, Executive Director IVMS; Martin and Jeanette Himmelfarb both amateur musicians with the VCO

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Contact: John Mabardi, Founder VCO

VCOinformation@comcast.net

941 350 0311

I recently met with a senior representative from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation. The GCCF is a well known local benefactor in several areas including arts and culture. We discussed what makes the Venice Community Orchestra a unique organization in Venice; the fact that we are the only local multigenerational orchestra in the area. The VCO provides a venue for musicians of all levels to play in a symphonic orchestra; no audition required. Experience has showed that we attract:

• The more mature and professionally retired player who once played well in a prominent orchestra but wants to maintain his/her skills;
• The pro who simply likes to play while helping others in reaching higher levels of playing;
• The beginner who can learn by sitting next to better players who pulls them along to a higher level of playing;
• The younger musician who aspires to become a pro musician, and;
• The inveterate amateur who simply likes to play.

Our conversation focused on our most recent accomplishments including building the orchestra from an idea to a complement of 25 musicians in one year, self-funding a music library that will sustain us for another 8 to 12 months and holding 6 concerts of classical music selections for 1,500 attendees.

We also discussed our key challenges, namely to identify an affordable space for weekly rehearsals, and to fairly compensate our music director/conductor.

To meet the above challenges, our Board of Directors needs to build its fund raising capability. This can be accomplished by adding one or two Board Members who would be as passionate as we are about our mission and be ready to help in raising the necessary funds to meet our challenges.

If you are interested in joining our Board or if you know someone who might be interested in contributing to our success with fund raising activities, please advise. The rewards are immeasurable; they are derived from working with a congenial group of musicians of all ages and from the satisfaction in building a unique cultural and artistic organization to serve the Venice area community.